Monday, April 16, 2012

Kale is the undisputed heavyweight champion of health foods, right? Exuding antioxidants and other body-friendly forms of goodness in every green leaf ... And the latest trend in the food world seems to be kale chips, which are basically desiccated kale leaves - salted or spiced - and eaten like potato chips.

They are NOT potato chips.
They are dried leaves.
I can't stand them.

But, because kale's so incredibly awesome, and because I often seem to find myself in possession of more of it than I know what to do with ... I made kale chips. I tried, I really did. I put desiccated kale leaves into my mouth and chewed, and thought about all the other yummy things I could be eating instead. And then? I was inspired.

I crumbled those withered kale leaves into a hundred thousand little pieces. (Which was a lot of fun, you should try it).

I poured them into a spice shaker, which I just happened to have in my cupboard.
And began sprinkling them on salads.

And you know what? Kale sprinkles are BEAUTIFUL! Flecks of dark green tastiness clinging on to salad leaves or buttered pasta; dashed across avocado on toast; even chucked into smoothies now and then ...

Which means I'm never again going to let kale wilt unhappily in my crisper ... I'm going to make it into kale sprinkles.

So, do you have any food trend un-faves you'd like to share? Please do!
Amanda xx

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Kale Chip Sprinkles

The time
5-10 min prep + 15-20 min baking

The ingredients
A bunch of kale, with the leaves removed from the stalks. (Use the stalks here!)
1-2 Tbs extra virgin olive oil
sea salt, to taste

The process
1. Preheat the oven to 140C (280F). Wash the kale and dry it with a tea towel or in a salad spinner. Remove the stalks (but save them!) and tear the leaves into little potato-chip sized pieces (because we can at least pretend they're similar ... )

2. Coat the kale leaves with olive oil and sea salt and pop (on a cookie sheet or tray) into the oven for 15-20 minutes, checking them regularly and using a spoon to turn/readjust them for even drying. They're done when they're nice and dry and crumble-able. But wait till they're cool before you crumble them up ... I know how excited you are ...

The cost
$4 for a massive, organic bunch of kale. I'm not even going to count the oil or salt.

Dish of the Day
It's been awhile since I played this little thrifting game, but I thrifted my Maxwell Williams salad plate (above) for $4 and those lovely vintage salad tongs (also above) for $0.20. The lovely napkins - which Nelle calls the 'beautiful napkins' and demands exclusive use of - and the crazy cool cheeseboard (made from an oak barrel that used to store wine!) we got as wedding presents. (Thank you, friends.)

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comments:

I love love love that you spoke out about kale chips! Honestly i've never had them nor made them, but it's all anyone is talking about these days. But boy do I love kale. salad. smoothies. stir fried. steamed. simmered in soup. All of it.

Great idea! I am trying to become a Kale lover because I keep hearing how good it is for me. I can now eat it as a salad with light dressing, kale chips (I like in small doses), and now to try the new Kale sprinkles idea.We have tried all kinds of greens sautaed (sp?) and baked (like Kale chips). Our favorites for sauteing are Beet greens and for baking are Swiss Chard (I prefer the green Swiss Chard best). ----Linda (Smith) Morris

Oh perfect I just planted quite a lot of Kale in our veggie patch. I presume it will grow well here - other brassicas do well, as do any leafy greens, so should be good. These sprinkles are a great idea - i guess if they are salty and have other herbs or spices they are DIY herbsalt?!

I know Kale is the latest trend in healthy food and yes, I hear of it everywhere. I have yet to try it. This post wants me to get out and find some and get busy making the sprinkles. If I can't take the taste of a Kale salad or smoothie, I can surely take it sprinkled over my salads.

Hi gg, My understanding is that foods dehydrated at low temperatures retain all their raw nutritional goodness ... dehydration just removes the water, leaving everything else behind. If you're concerned, you could dry them in a proper food dehydrator or at a lower temp in the oven :)